Solid Ground: Crialese’s Heartfelt Message Movie
In his fourth feature film, Emanuele Crialese tackles issues of immigration and the inhumanity that transpires from man-made laws in Terraferma, a film that just as scrappily begs one to look past the heavy-handed message to be moved at the plight of the individuals it depicts. And, for those sentimentally inclined, those moments may be quite easy to forgive, even if they’re increasingly hard to ignore in its final lead up to the grand finale. Fortunately, there’s a poetic rhythm to the arresting visual compositions that couch on magical realism, and its bittersweet melancholic tone, no matter how bluntly delivered, is still an effectively realized portrait of tenuous humanity.
On Linosa, a small island off the coast of Italy, Filippo (Filippo Pucillo) is the third generation of a family of fishermen, and the industry has slowly dwindled into nothing, leaving his remaining family beleaguered.
In his fourth feature film, Emanuele Crialese tackles issues of immigration and the inhumanity that transpires from man-made laws in Terraferma, a film that just as scrappily begs one to look past the heavy-handed message to be moved at the plight of the individuals it depicts. And, for those sentimentally inclined, those moments may be quite easy to forgive, even if they’re increasingly hard to ignore in its final lead up to the grand finale. Fortunately, there’s a poetic rhythm to the arresting visual compositions that couch on magical realism, and its bittersweet melancholic tone, no matter how bluntly delivered, is still an effectively realized portrait of tenuous humanity.
On Linosa, a small island off the coast of Italy, Filippo (Filippo Pucillo) is the third generation of a family of fishermen, and the industry has slowly dwindled into nothing, leaving his remaining family beleaguered.
- 8/5/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Save them, or let them drown? This is the question facing a fisherman on the tiny Italian island of Linosa, whose waters have become an arrival point for North African refugees seeking asylum. In this subtle-as-a-brick issue picture from director Emanuele Crialese (Respiro), an old fisherman (Mimmo Cuticchio) and his 20-year-old grandson, Filippo (Filippo Pucillo), rescue Sara (Timnit T.), a pregnant Ethiopian woman, and her son from the sea, and sneak them home, where Filippo's mother, Giulia (Donatella Finocchiaro), delivers Sara's baby. From here, Crialese shifts ungracefully between scenes of the locals bickering among themselves, partying tourists ravaging the shoreline, and policemen hauling—in slow motion—weakened refugees off to jail (as the tourists snap pho...
- 7/24/2013
- Village Voice
By Silvia Aloisi
Venice, Italy (Reuters) - Immigration in Italy is a big theme at the Venice film festival this year, with several home-grown movies taking a critical look at how the country's authorities and its people are struggling to deal with a growing wave of newcomers.
The issue could hardly be more topical in a year when tens of thousands of illegal immigrants fleeing political turmoil in North Africa and civil war in Libya have arrived in Italy and hundreds more have drowned at sea.
"Terraferma," or "Mainland," by director Emanuele Crialese, explores how the lives of a fisherman and his family on a remote island off the Sicilian coast are transformed when they rescue a pregnant Ethiopian woman at sea and hide her in their house.
The film, which is in the main competition at the festival, tells a fictional story and does not identify the island, but...
Venice, Italy (Reuters) - Immigration in Italy is a big theme at the Venice film festival this year, with several home-grown movies taking a critical look at how the country's authorities and its people are struggling to deal with a growing wave of newcomers.
The issue could hardly be more topical in a year when tens of thousands of illegal immigrants fleeing political turmoil in North Africa and civil war in Libya have arrived in Italy and hundreds more have drowned at sea.
"Terraferma," or "Mainland," by director Emanuele Crialese, explores how the lives of a fisherman and his family on a remote island off the Sicilian coast are transformed when they rescue a pregnant Ethiopian woman at sea and hide her in their house.
The film, which is in the main competition at the festival, tells a fictional story and does not identify the island, but...
- 9/5/2011
- by Reuters
- Huffington Post
#20. Terraferma Director: Emanuele Crialese Cast: Filippo Pucillo, Donatella Finocchiaro, Mimmo Cuticcho, Giuseppe Fiorello, Timnit T. Distributor: Rights Available Buzz: Using a familiar backdrop of his native Sicily (sun-bleached islands plus rhythmic aqua blues) this appears (see trailer) less epic in scope than his 2006 film The Golden Door and less fable like than 2002's Respiro -- but Emanuele Crialese still works with the same obsession: free spirit status of the individual. Perhaps more telling, less romantic and more complex within this format, along with Kaurismäki's Le Havre, this Venice selected title only confirms that immigration migration due to the despairing differences between rich and poor and climate change is more than just a trendy topic. The Gist: Two women, an Island dweller and a foreigner: one dramatically influences the life of the other. But they both share the same desire for a different future, a better life for their children and the dream of the mainland.
- 9/3/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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